


everybody's got a problem (nobody wants to solve them)

by shadowlancer_95



Series: Infinity War AUs [6]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Loki (Marvel), Civil War Team Iron Man, Don't Like Don't Read, Everybody Lives, Fix-It, Flashbacks, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Loki & Tony Stark Friendship, Loki (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Loki has a plan, Loki loves Thor, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Powerful Loki, Time Skips, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, he really does, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-26 09:13:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19765120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowlancer_95/pseuds/shadowlancer_95
Summary: Ever since he fell from the Bifrost, Loki only ever had one goal - kill Thanos.





	everybody's got a problem (nobody wants to solve them)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys, so this fic literally wrote itself - I didn't even want to write it, I had no plans on writing it, I barely even had a plot for it. But it wouldn't leave me alone so I had to keep at it until it was complete. Ugh.
> 
> This is based on that one rumor I read about how Loki was supposed to have a bigger role in Infinity War - aka he was supposed to double cross Thanos, which would have gotten him killed, but it was a better way to go than the butter knife he used. 
> 
> We were robbed, I tell you. 
> 
> So the plot bunny just wouldn't leave me alone until I did something about it, and well, here it is. 
> 
> Enjoy the fic and please leave a review on your way out!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel, sadly.

The hand that closes around his throat isn’t unexpected, but the lack of crushing pressure is.

Loki winces as the grip tightened, enough so that he felt the way his throat seemed to creak under the pressure, the cartilage and bone groaning from the strength of his captor. He fixes desperate eyes onto his assailant, resolutely pushing down the fear that threatened to overwhelm him. He does not look to the side, does not draw attention to his brother who was kneeling – bound and gagged with twisted metal – screaming muffled words at him.

He looks at Thanos, who tilts his head thoughtfully, then –

Loki drops to the ground, harsh coughs forcing their way out of an already abused throat.

_What_.

He looks up at the Titan, a new wave of fear chilling him to the bone. This was not part of the plan, this was _nowhere_ near part of the plan. Thanos was meant to kill him and leave Thor alone – half of their number, that was his favorite game – he was meant to crush his throat like paper, _not_ release him.

Some of his apprehension must have bled onto his face, because the Titan laughed, a low chuckle that slowly bounced off the walls of the ship until it echoed everywhere.

“Take him.” Thanos says simply, smiling – a glint of cruelty in his eyes that shouldn’t offer comfort to him but somehow does – down at the kneeling god.

Loki doesn’t even register the fact that Proxima Midnight is moving until she spears him through the shoulder with her lance, the blade tearing through muscle and bone with a sickening squelch.

He doesn’t even have the time to scream before the bright blue light of the Tesseract consumes his vision and he is yanked backwards into space.

(The image of his brother’s horrified face tinged with a purple glow _sears_ itself into his mind.)

* * *

_The thing about Loki is – his mind is_ never _still. Before Jotunheim, before the throne, before the Fall, it was because there were just that many things to consider, many threads of thought that just couldn’t be left alone to hang in the dust._

_After, though, it was because the nightmares wouldn’t leave him alone._

_Odin may have thought it a mercy – or maybe he’d planned it that way, cruel old man that he was – but isolation in a prison cell was the ultimate punishment for him._

_Where he once sought to be alone, free from foolish company who had no thirst for knowledge and no patience for deep philosophy, he now shuddered at the prospect of spending the rest of his life alone in a cell with only his thoughts for company._

_(He regrets ever saying that Frigga wasn’t his mother because she_ was _– she wasn’t a nameless person he could throw aside, she was the one person in the whole of Asgard who understood him completely, who showed him the wisps of seidr that decorated the air, a secret between them and them only. It was her constant presence that held the nightmares at bay, that kept the Mad Titan out from his head as Odin had once kept him out of Yggdrasil.)_

_He couldn’t bear to think about his once captor – we will make you long for something as sweet as pain – or the horrors he’d seen in his time amongst the Black Order._

_So he did what he did best – what was_ expected _of him – he plotted._

_But not against Asgard, or even Midgard like Thor probably thought._

_He plotted against the Titan himself._

_It helped some, helped him feel brave, like he had a plan in place to counteract the Titan when he came. (And he knew it was a when, not an if, because Loki had cracked the door ajar when he used the Tesseract as a doorway, and now Tha – the titan was free to chip away at the barrier keeping him out of the nine realms.)_

_It helped soothe the terrors somewhat, knowing that he had a plan in place to stop him. It had been a pleasant day dream, a safe bubble where he could fantasize orchestrating the demise of the most feared creature the Nine Realms had only ever heard whispers of._

_And then the dark elves came, and Frigga – his mother – was murdered before he could take his words back, and then he found himself confronting Odin Allfather once more and suddenly –_

_Suddenly, the throne was his once again._

_In a flash, all of his daydreams teetered on the edge of reality, the prospect of the multitude of plans coming to fruition sending him into a spiral of anxiety and panic._

_It took him the better part of a week – excused by grief in his guise as Odin – to center himself long enough to rearrange his priorities._

_And so,_ plans _._

* * *

The ship is as dark and as menacing as ever.

It isn’t dirty, because he knows that despite the disgusting critters that inhabited the ship, Ebony Maw would never tolerate untidiness unless it meant someone’s innards had been spilled in the name of his master.

Loki hissed as Proxima yanked her lance free from his shoulder, gritting his teeth against the throbbing pain. He looked up from beneath the curtain of his hair to the titan who was staring at him bemusedly.

“Why have you brought me here?”

“You claimed to be a guide,” The behemoth replied, and Loki’s heart dropped. “Perhaps you could start by telling us where the stones are.”

“Unless,” and here, the murderer kneels down, his hand resting gently on Loki’s head – reminding him of the ease in which he can simply crush his skull, “You were lying about working for me again?”

The clever thing here would be to bow his head and agree, the intelligent thing to do would be to submit to the titan for as long as possible until he found the right opportunity to run.

But then Loki thinks of the Asgardians on the ship, who had barely escaped Hela with their lives, who had witnessed their homeland's destruction and _finally_ managed to relax only to run headfirst into a slaughter by the Black Order. He thinks of Heimdall, who gave his life in defiance to send Bruce back to Midgard to warn the others – futile it may have been. He thinks of Valkyrie, who fled with as many people as she could – children barely even at the height of the knee – escaping into the void of space. He thinks of all the gladiator contenders from Sakaar who had no reason to give their lives for Asgard, a place they had only glimpsed before it was utterly destroyed, people who had absolutely no reason to sacrifice themselves for a race they didn’t know, a race who would – at any other time – look down on them for being less than gods.

He thinks of Thor, who he’d left behind on the Statesman, bound and gagged, at the mercy of the power stone.

And Loki spits.

He glares up at Thanos, forcing his lips to widen in a maniacal smile that was born from this very place all those years ago.

A part of him shivers at the gleam in the titan’s eyes, but the rest of him is baying for blood, wishing he could rip into the creature in front of him with his teeth for forcing Loki, the God of Mischief, Lies and Trickery to his knees.

“ _Make_ me.” He snarls, baring his teeth.

(Carefully concealed by a simple illusion, unseen by the Black Order and their master, Loki focused a part of his mind on the device he carried, sending a pulse of magic – a warning and a cry for help both, to the only person in the Nine Realms left that he could trust.)

* * *

_He would never trust Heimdall fully ever again – not after the stunt he’d pulled all those years ago – but there was a tentative truce that they had._

_Loki knew, that if he was to prepare Asgard for the war that would come upon their very gates, he would need to ensure the cooperation of the realm’s most treasured Gatekeeper. A part of him raged at the mere sight of the other Asgardian, but Loki was nothing if not prudent. He knew – with Heimdall’s sight – that it was as valuable a warning alarm as any. He also knew, that the Gatekeeper was loyal to Asgard – if not the throne, then at least to the people. It galled him, that Heimdall had explicitly gone against his orders the first time around when he should have listened to the king, but those were matters to be hashed out another day._

_Today, he needed to move_ his _plans forward._

_The Bifrost spat him out, and Loki-as-Odin gestured for his guards to return to the palace, waving off their hesitant stammers of concern._

_The golden observatory dimmed as the light from the bridge died down, and Loki kept his eyes on the slowly distancing guards. He heard the metallic snick of the sword being pulled from its sheath that was used to power the Bifrost, and waited until the heavy footfalls stopped near him._

_“How was Xandar my liege?”_

_“Boring,” Loki replied, his lips quirking up, “But you and I both know this is not why I have come here.”_

_He turned to face Heimdall, who stared back impassively, replying, “You have come here because this is where you must pass through in order to return to Asgard, apart from the hidden paths that are present in the mountains.”_

_Loki snorted, a move so uncharacteristic of Odin that had it been anyone else but Heimdall, they would have been confused. As it was, the trickster noted the lack of surprise and waved his hand, casting a spell that would shield them from prying eyes._

_Sufficiently cloaked, he dropped his own illusion._

_“Where is Odin?”_

_“Safe,” Loki replied tersely, “I promise.”_

_The only response he got in return was a narrow-eyed stare._

_The trickster sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Odin_ is _safe, that is all I will say. This is not what I came here to discuss.”_

_Heimdall stared for several seconds longer then moved on. “You are looking for the infinity stones,” he stated, “That is unwise.”_

_Loki couldn’t help it, he scoffed._

_“I look for them not to use them, but to hide them.” Turning to face the gatekeeper, he said, “There is something coming. Someone. He seeks the power of the stones, and he_ will _destroy everything in his wake in order to achieve it.”_

_“Who?”_

_“A mad man, a murderer, a man who has lost all sanity in his quest to become the universe’s best problem solver.” Loki replied bitterly, shaking off the haze of memories that threatened to fall over him._

_“What do you intend to do about it?” Heimdall asked, his golden gaze cutting deep into Loki’s soul._

_“I intend to rip him apart myself.” He sneered, “But to do so I will need my plans to succeed. Will you help me?”_

_The dark-skinned Asgardian smirked just a little, a change from his normally emotionless façade. “The god of lies and mischief asking for my help, that is a first.”_

_Loki bared his teeth, eyes blazing. “Well?”_

_Heimdall sank to one knee, placing a fist over his heart as he bowed. “My sword and my being is for the service of Asgard and a tool for the rightful king and his heirs. I will do as you command my Liege.”_

_Loki grinned._

_“Rise, Heimdall. The first order of business: you are hereby stripped of your title as Keeper of the Bifrost and shall be condemned to exile.”_

_Seeing the concealed shock in the gatekeeper’s eyes, the trickster allowed his lips to curl into a mischievous smirk, “Your second order of business, is to go down to Midgard.”_

* * *

Loki gasped as the pressure let up, his nerves still lighting up in spasms as he twitched on the cold, dank floor. The trickster laughed, letting the sound bubble up from within him and spill out from his mouth even though there was nothing hilarious in sight.

Proxima Midnight had taken several turns with him, her spear sharp and deadly as ever, and every stab wound, every cut that she had carved into his skin burned in the frigid air. His mind spun and ached from the telepathic scalpel with which Ebony Maw had used to slice into his memories with surgical precision, dragging out pains so old he’d already long forgotten their existence.

(He doesn’t think of the way his family looks at him with cruelty in their eyes. Doesn’t think of the words his mother – not his mother, never his mother – had spoken to him, each cutting far deeper than any blade could go. He doesn’t stop to remember the way his father dismissed him, the way his brother jeered at him, the way everyone called him weak, _ergi_ , useless –)

Loki forced himself upright, snarling and backing away when he felt the Titan’s hand drop on his head in a mocking gesture of comfort. The rest of the Black Order had left, out on a hunt for the remaining stones, two of which were on Midgard. He spares a moment to think of the mortals who were guarding the stones, then switched his focus back to the alien in front of him.

His torturer crouched down in front of him, the purple stone in his hand gleaming unnaturally in the darkness of the cell.

“Tell me where the stone is, and I will spare you.”

Loki couldn’t help it, he laughed.

It wasn’t a mere chuckle, or a short bark of laughter. It was the kind that sent your whole body shaking with it, the kind that went on for ages and you couldn’t stop because then your mind would catch up to the reality of the situation and everything would fall apart. The titan’s face twitched with displeasure, and Loki continued laughing. He knew his mind was fraying apart, having never truly recovered from his last ordeal with the Mad Titan, but he couldn’t help it. He wondered vaguely if this was why Thor never gave into his enemies, always facing them head on with that pig-headed stubbornness.

(Who was he kidding? Thor was brave, he could withstand all that the Black Order threw at him and more because he was Thor, god of thunder and son of Odin. Loki? He was the spare, the shadow to Thor’s golden light, he was weak, unable to stand upright in the face of evil – no, he embraced the monster in him, gave _into_ it.)

“You, are being an _absolute_ cliché, as the mortals would say.” The trickster said between laughs, gasping for breath as the movement jolted his broken ribs.

“You capture me, you set your little children loose on me, you have me all for _your_ sadistic pleasure and the only thing you can say is ‘where is the stone?’?” Loki cackled, "Where is your originality?"

The titan tilted his head to one side. “And yet," he murmured, "You are so near the point of breaking that it would take but a slight breeze to send you over the edge.”

The god of mischief stopped laughing and leaned towards the alien, baring his teeth. “Then _blow_ me.”

(He feels an answering buzz from the device, and in his mind’s eye, another piece of the puzzle fell into place.)

He sees the glint of sadistic glee in the titan’s eyes and the menacing glow of the power stone, and Loki meets it squarely.

* * *

_“Okay see, everything is great, we have a plan, we have a backup plan, and we have backup plans of our backup plans.” Tony said, waving his free hand around while his other one held a glass of an unknown smoothie, ignoring the muttered ‘we don’t_ have _plans, we have ideas for plans’._

_“But see, thing is, I’ve heard many stories from my buddy Thor, your_ son _by the way”, the genius continued, stressing the word as he pointed a finger at the mirage of Odin standing stiffly by the window, “And I have to say, it doesn’t match up.”_

_“You would question the_ king _of Asgard?”_

_Tony smirked. The tone in which that sentence was delivered had none of the indignant anger one would expect from a king whose status had been questioned, and all the curiosity one would expect from someone far more intelligent and cunning._

_“How’s the throne Reindeer Games? Comfortable?”_

_Not-Odin scrutinized him for several seconds longer, and Tony met his eyes squarely, unwilling to back down despite the tension that suddenly flooded the room. If he was wrong – well, Thor would have to explain to the rest of the team why the penthouse had been destroyed. If he was right…_

_The mirage shimmered and iridescent emerald appeared at the edges, folding inwards until Odin vanished, leaving nothing behind except one god of mischief._

_The genius allowed himself a self-satisfied smirk, hiding his relief behind his smoothie, wincing at the taste._

_“Drink?” he asked, once the disgusting paste had gone down his throat, and he no longer felt like he was about to drop to his knees._

_The god snorted and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms, the golden spear he had carried as Odin disappearing into subspace._

_“I’m not really here Stark, any drink you offer would simply fall to the ground and I don’t think you would appreciate the waste.”_

_Tony shrugged, his lips pressed into a grimace as he reconsidered drinking his own smoothie. He honestly didn’t know what was in there, given the murky green color of the paste, and if the taste was any indication, he probably shouldn’t drink it anymore._

_“How did you know?” Loki asked, his viridian eyes narrowed and piercing._

_Tony leaned casually against the counter, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. “When you live with Thor long enough, you kinda get some details on how Odin is supposed to be like, and by some details I mean he’s regaled us ‘tales’ of his father’s glorious battles that lasted like, five hours each. Not something I’d ever want to go through again, but don’t tell him that, I like breathing too much.”_

_The trickster couldn’t help the smirk, but shook his head and asked again, “Even if you guessed that it wasn’t Odin, what made you think it was_ me _?”_

_Tony felt both his eyebrows attempt to disappear into his hair._

_“You’re kidding me right? Thor’s been telling us about how you wanted to be king,_ you’ve _been strutting around earth declaring your desire to rule us little ants – or have you forgotten that?” Tony retorted, the words coming out sharper than he intended to._

_He was surprised by the flicker of discomfort – something he only caught because he’d been on high alert ever since this particular guest came around._

_“Still,” Loki continued, pushing past whatever discomfort he felt, “It could have been_ any _other person masquerading as Odin.”_

_Tony snorted. “Who? Who would be able to imitate the guy so well if not for someone who’d known him for literal centuries? And before you say anything, nobody else – that I can think of anyway – would have the motivation to do such a thing. You had the opportunity, you had the motive, you had the ability – it isn’t too hard to put one and one and come up with two.”_

_Loki frowned, and Tony knew he was thinking of all the times he’d appeared as Odin, wondering now if his guise had truly been so paper thin._

_The genius sighed, running a hand through his hair. This wasn’t what he signed up for today. He was meant to enjoy a night of good rest – as ordered by Pepper – and head down to the lab to cook up a storm for R &D, not play house to a homicidal god that had been hell bent on taking over the planet the last time he’d been here. _

_“Look,” Tony pointed out, “I’ve worked with Jane Foster a couple of times after she came back – you remember her? Thor’s girlfriend? – yeah, she told me, when your brother wasn’t around, how much of a douchebag your dad – sorry, your adopted dad – was. He called her a goat, and honestly, I’m amazed she didn’t just punch him there and then. He doesn't exactly have a high opinion of us lowly mortals.”_

_He saw Loki’s frown, and decided to barrel on. “So yeah, the last thing I’d ever expect_ Odin _to do, is to send a messenger to me requesting to discuss about potential inter-realm collaborations, let alone come down_ himself _to meet me. And while I’m one hell of a human – one of the best if I might just say – Odin considers us all to be below him, why would a king – the king of Asgard in fact, like you said – come to_ my _home, meet me on_ my _terms, to discuss a collaboration with a race he’d dismissed once?”_

_And yeah it made him angry to think about how dismissive Odin had been, had reminded him that Thor had once been like that – was_ still _at times dismissive of their strength, as though they hadn’t kept up with him in battle enough times to prove that they could do what he did. It was subconscious, and that was the only reason Tony could push down the anger when Thor made a comment about them being mortals and weak – but Odin? Odin was free game. This was a man who should have known better, he was a king, and kings were_ supposed _to be far-sighted._

_But the lack of an eye probably accounted for some of that near-sightedness, who knew?_

_Tony turned his focus back to Loki, who was still standing there – well, not really standing, since he wasn’t exactly_ there _– looking far more lost and unsure than the genius had ever seen him. And okay, the only times he’d ever seen the god was during the invasion, where he had been spitting vitriol everywhere, madness etched in his being, so he didn’t exactly have a good idea of how Loki was supposed to look._

_“Look,” Tony sighed, drawing Loki’s attention, “Why are you really here? What do you want?”_

_As if that question had unlocked something, Tony startled when the god’s shoulders slumped, the trickster suddenly looking like the centuries had caught up to him._

_“I need your help.” He said softly, his eyes flicking up to meet Tony’s._

_In any other situation, the genius would have responded with a quip or some form of sarcastic remark._

_Standing here in his penthouse, looking at the tension lining the god’s shoulders, the way the shadows seem to lurk behind his eyes, Tony saw the effort it took for Loki to utter those words. He knew – even from the little interaction he’d had with the god – that Loki was a prideful creature. All of Asgard were. It took much to force them to ask for help, and while a part of him wanted nothing to do with whatever it was that haunted Loki so much, the bigger part of him – the same part that honored Yinsen’s sacrifice with every flight he took as Ironman – had him replying, “What do you need?”_

_He didn’t comment on the flash of shock that swept across Loki’s face, merely kept his calm and exuded his business persona._

_Loki squared his jaw and straightened, confidence bolstered by the apparent olive branch he’d been given._

_It occurred to Tony that this was also the god of lies, and that everything – from his words to his body language – could have been a ruse. But Tony chose to trust his instincts, and so he remained where he was when Loki finally opened his mouth once again._

_“There is a threat coming, and he’s coming for everyone. Not just Asgard, not just Midgard, the_ entire _universe.”_

* * *

The next time he opened his eyes, he was alone in the cell, with no shadows lurking in the darkness, no gleam of indigo that promised pain, no hulking figure with strength that could crush his bones easily.

He was alone.

The god shifted, groaning as the movement jostled some of his broken ribs. Even the slightest twitch of his finger sent tingles through his system, a testament to how fried his pain receptors likely were from the exposure to the stone.

Loki hissed and pushed himself upright, collapsing bonelessly against the wall when he finally managed to get into a sitting position. It was embarrassing really, how long he’d taken to even move when he knew he’d had much worse before. His loud pants echoed in the solitary cell, and he wondered vaguely if the titan had gone to Knowhere. There was nothing in the cell that could tell him where he was, so Loki closed his eyes and rested his head against the cold wall, pressing a palm discreetly to his chest.

They’d wrapped him in magic suppressing chains, and that would have been enough – except that he wasn’t just a simple magic-caster, he was a _sorcerer,_ and his _seidr_ was born with him, not something he'd learnt to harness.

_That_ made all the difference.

He knew that the Black Order considered him weak, that his magic – while interesting and occasionally useful – could not compare to their abilities. It galled him the first time, when they taunted him and spat on him, belittled his gifts – gifts from his mother – and he wanted to prove to them just how _weak_ his magic was. He’d depleted it back then, weakened from keeping him alive in the Void and then crashing onto the Chitauri’s homeworld. He had been unable to do more than slowly heal himself, nothing more than casting illusions that flickered with every agonizing breath he took.

He was a prideful creature he knew, and it pained him to know that others thought him to be weak. But it had worked out for him – the Black Order assumed he was nothing more than a second-rate mage whose powers were easily locked away. He had done nothing in his time here on this ship to convince them otherwise, and he knew that while the titan had been unsure before, he was slowly letting his guard down.

After all, why would one willingly go through torture when they could simply stop the pain?

But Loki had always loved to play the long game, moving his pieces around so slowly that his target never once knew he was trapped until it was far too late.

He allowed himself a smile that turned into cackling just in case he had watchers, slipping into the guise of a man who’d been brought to the brink of sanity and was now tipping over the precipice.

He was still laughing to himself when the door opened and a screaming figure was thrown in.

Loki raised an eyebrow at said screaming figure, who was thrown on the ground but launched themselves straight at the door almost immediately.

Futile, since the door slammed in their face.

Squinting in the darkness, Loki tried to make out just who was his current companion. He caught a hint of long hair, and skin a shade too dark to be light and too light to be dark.

_“Gamora?”_

The figure whipped around, and the next thing he knew, a hand closed around his throat, slamming him against the wall.

The assassin and favorite daughter of the mad titan snarled in his face, and Loki quickly brought his hands up, grabbing her wrists.

“Stop – hey, it’s me – it’s me – _stop_ that!”

His voice broke through the cloud of rage and she blinked in shock, loosening her grip.

Loki coughed, hissing at the set of new bruises around his neck, shooting Gamora a dirty look that went unnoticed in the dark.

“Wait – _Loki_?”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised.” He muttered, rubbing his throat absently, _seidr_ curling around the bruises comfortingly.

“What are you – how did you get here?”

“I got an invitation to join in the fun – how do you _think_ I got here?” he sniped, irritation coursing through him.

He eyed her, silent thanking the fact that his Jotun heritage meant better night vision. “I can understand your sister’s presence, but what are you doing here?”

“I –,” she hesitated, then frowned, “What do you mean my sister? Are you talking about Nebula? What is she doing here?”

Loki rolled his eyes upwards and sighed heavily. “Yes your sister, the blue one that _isn’t_ Proxima. As far as I know, _she_ got caught sneaking around the ship.”

He couldn’t exactly tell through the darkness, but Gamora’s skin lightened several shades as the information registered in her mind. Her father had brought her here, had thrown her in this cell and Nebula was his prisoner.

This was bad.

“You still haven’t answered my question, why did he catch you? Weren’t you off with your little band of heroes?”

The assassin narrowed her eyes at him, not that it did her any good with the lack of light, and demanded, “How do you know about the Guardians?”

Groaning, Loki scrubbed at his face, “ _Of course_ I know about the infamous Guardians of the Galaxy, everyone in the damn galaxy knows about the group of misfits who saved Xandar.”

(And who wielded an infinity stone together but that was information he wasn’t willing to share.)

Pressing her lips together, Gamora thought for several more seconds then relented. She couldn’t see her fellow prisoner, and she couldn’t gauge just what was going through his mind. _But_ , she reasoned, _there was no harm in speaking to him_.

(A part of her felt guilty for the role she played when he’d been captured the first time. She hadn’t taken part in his torture, but she’d heard his screams as her siblings played with him and she’d turned her back – that was complicit enough.)

“He wants information, information that only I can give. We – a few of us – were on Knowhere, we wanted to get to the reality stone before he could but…”

Loki sighed, knocking his head back against the wall. That was one more stone for the titan then.

Then he frowned.

“Let me get this straight, you had information that he wanted, and you went to a place you knew he was going to be at anyway?” Loki asked incredulously.

Gamora shifted, clearing her throat uncomfortably. “I know him better than most, I was best suited to keep my team alive if we needed to fight against him.”

“And in return you’ve handed him another stone on a silver platter.” Loki pointed out.

“There was nothing else I could do!” she snapped, surging to her feet. The assassin paced the cell, fear and rage warring within her. She knew what was in store for her, she knew that she needed to resist his mind games, she couldn’t give up the location of the stone. And yet, with Nebula on hand…

Her father was always cruel to her sister, she saw that now, and she couldn’t bear the thought of Nebula being subject to even more suffering because of her mistake – and what a mistake it was. The god was right, she should _never_ have gone to Knowhere.

“How did you know to head to Knowhere?” a voice spoke up, slicing through her rapidly spiraling thoughts.

“I – we picked up a survivor from a ship wreckage. He told us that the stone was on Knowhere –”

“Who?” Loki demanded, sitting upright abruptly. He hissed as the shift pulled on his broken ribs and waved off Gamora’s aborted movement to help him. “Who did you pick up?”

Gamora blinked, wondering at the intensity of the question.

“He said his name was Thor.”

The words hung in the air for a moment, then Loki threw his head back and laughed. From the way Gamora shifted, he knew he’d surprised her, and she didn’t know what to do, but he couldn’t find anything in him over the relief that now flooded his entire being to care about placating her.

Thor had survived.

Against all odds, _Thor_ , his brother, had _survived_.

Loki felt stirrings of hope in his chest, and this time he let it grow. His brother was alive, his plan was well on its way to fruition – there was nothing else that mattered.

The trickster’s grin went unseen in the darkness.

“Tell me,” he said, after the laughter subsided, “Why did he throw you in here? Why not question you directly?”

Gamora frowned, thinking carefully to what she’d observed even as she was struggling against her father’s hold.

“I believe Ebony Maw contacted him – something about being en route?”

Loki hummed, carefully containing the thrum of victory that sang in his veins as another piece of the puzzle slotted nicely into place.

“Where will your friends be headed?”

“To the end of the galaxy if they have any common sense.” Gamora muttered, then sighed, “They will come for me. They are likely already on their way to Titan, as this ship is.”

“Can you find them?” Loki asked.

“What?”

“Can you find them?” he repeated, “If you escaped, could you find them to regroup?”

“Yes.” She said firmly.

Loki nodded to himself, then said, “Come here.”

When she hesitated, he scowled. “Come _here_ ,” he snapped, “We don’t have all day, and if you are to escape you will need to do so soon.”

Gamora knelt in front of him, and Loki quickly grabbed her wrists, closing his eyes as he pictured the illusion. With a quick murmur, he weaved the spell over her, checking once to make sure that it wouldn’t unravel unless someone made contact or she ran into another spell.

Seeing as how the only person aboard the ship that would be using magic was the one person she needed to avoid, Loki decided that was enough.

“Can I take these?” he asked, tapping the bracelets on her wrists lightly. He felt the hesitation, but then she nodded.

Slipping them off, he did the same thing to the bracelets.

“What – ?”

“I’ve placed an illusion on you, you won’t be seen by anyone who doesn’t have the capability to do so. But the illusion doesn’t cover the sensation of touch, so if you walk into someone, they will feel it.” He warned.

Loki passed the bracelets back to her, “I assume you’ll be rescuing your sister – so pass those to her, the spell will cover her as well. The same rule applies, so keep to the walls until you leave the ship.”

“Why are you doing this?” Gamora asked, her heart thudding in her chest. She’d resigned herself to her fate the moment her father dropped the illusion, and yet this man – practically a complete stranger – had offered her a way out almost instantly. The traitorous emotion that was hope threatened to overwhelm her, but she pushed it back.

Loki bit his lips and sighed.

“You saved Thor, my brother, from the clutches of the Void when I couldn’t – for that I owe you one. Now _go_.”

“I’ll come back for you.” Gamora promised, determination burning like an inferno within her. “I promise, I’ll come back for you.”

Loki smirked, then flicked his wrist.

The door cracked open just a smidge, but that was enough. With one last look at him, the assassin slipped out of the cell.

Loki leaned his head back against the wall once again, closing his eyes to rest.

He needed to replenish his strength if he was to survive what the titan would rain down upon him the moment he found out that his precious daughter was gone.

* * *

_“Okay_ jeez _, how do you not know how to use a phone?”_

_“I know how to use a phone,” Loki snapped, “This one has too many extra contraptions.”_

_“It’s_ literally _a touchscreen!” Tony replied, exasperated, “That means it has_ no _extra contraptions whatsoever!”_

_“Then there are too many different buttons!” the god snarled, shaking the phone out of frustration._

_“Oh my god forget it, give me that, I’ll show you how it works, again, and you try. Alright?”_

_“You don’t need to coddle me Stark.” The trickster god sneered, but handed the phone over anyway._

_Tony just rolled his eyes._

_It had been months since their first meeting, and Tony found himself enjoying the time he’d spent with the god – a feat he’d never thought would happen. It helped that there was no longer any team. First because he’d stepped out due to the Sokovia issue and then because of the Civil War which – nope, he was not going to think about at all._

_No, what he was doing here, in his own lab with Loki was far more productive._

_They’d discussed defensive measures, and he’d laid out his own plans for planetary defense – Ultron, without mentioning the name. It had been a tentative proposal, one that he’d expected to be shot down, like it had been with his team. But Loki had merely agreed that it was a good idea and proceeded to help him refine the system. He’d been kept busy by informing the council that they should set up another subcouncil, one that was aimed at interplanetary relations as well as defense against extraterrestrial attacks. It helped that the New York invasion had clearly shattered the idea that they were alone in the universe._

_They were decidedly not alone, and there were beings out there who would love to come in and take over their planet for their own purpose._

_Like what he’d told the council members, there was no way they could rely on Asgard forever, and neither did they want to owe the realm anything. Thor – and by extension, Asgard – were their allies now, but in the future? If they decided that enough was enough? Thor was the realm’s prince, the next in line for the throne, and despite all that he’d proclaimed about friendship and honor, Tony doubted that he would willingly defy his father and his people for a realm he barely even knew. (His throat twinges with phantom pain, and the genius solidified his determination, knowing firsthand how easy it was for Thor to turn on his friends when he wanted to.)_

_The thing is, Rogers was right to some extent. He wasn’t a hero, at least, it isn’t his defining trait. No, the one thing he has always been – and was always groomed to be – was a business man. And different cultures aside, contracts remained a universal language._

_He hashed out the details with Loki, who was acting king at that point of time. Perhaps not by totally legal means, but the god had said that whatever he did now, Odin would not be able to undo as easily since it meant going back on his word._

_And on Asgard, that was a huge dishonor._

_So Odin would find a way to squirrel out of their inter-realm relations one day, but Tony hoped that by then, they would have enough firepower to deal with any invasion if the dictator decided to take over earth._

_(He’d asked Loki if he’d be on their side, and the trickster had shrugged, a tired smile playing on his lips. He was tired of Asgard’s monopolization of the Nine Realms, the god had confessed, they were losing the power and grandeur that they once had, and with it, the iron grip over the realms they controlled. It was better to cut their losses now, when the colonized realms would recognize the freedom they’d been given, instead of the coup that would no doubt happen as Odin continued to deteriorate.)_

_So here they were, sitting in his lab in the middle of the night trying to figure out a better way to communicate between realms. Heimdall was cool and all, Tony would admit – it was a little creepy how the guy didn’t blink but whatever – but they couldn’t rely on him to run between realms forever. They needed something faster and less likely to be intercepted._

_Therefore, smartphones._

_Tony didn’t know if he should be surprised or not that Loki knew how to use one – or rather he’d picked up the basics within minutes – but it made for an easier discussion._

_He’d used one of the spare Starkphones that he had lying around, heatedly discussing the possibilities of combining it with Loki’s magic to make it work without a satellite signal._

_(He used the word magic sparingly, because his brain refused to acknowledge that science could not explain everything.)_

_It had taken many weeks of trial and error – compounded by the fact that they needed to iron out more details of the planetary defense system as well as the necessary paperwork for entering an alliance with Asgard – before they finished the prototype of the Starkphone._

_The genius had thrown a party – which meant pizza and non-alcoholic drinks and a movie marathon – when he’d called Loki who had gone back to Asgard and the call went through, the god’s voice as clear as day._

_It felt refreshing, to know that his fears – the same ones that plagued him ever since he went through that wormhole in New York – weren’t dismissed to be some fever dream, that the anxiety and the knowledge that there was someone out there and that his preparations hadn’t been for naught._

_Tony wanted to shove this news in Rogers’ righteous face, to tell him that yes, there was a threat out there, one far bigger than anything they had ever experienced or ever expected and that simply fighting ‘together’ was nothing more than a naïve and idealistic thought._

_The Avengers were broken up now – or rather, they were all in Wakanda hiding in the shadow of the Black Panther – but Tony didn’t need them, he never did. He had the support of the United Nations, he had the backing of the world leaders and their respective militaries, he had brought in scientists from all over the world to work together to build a system that could protect their planet, and he had far more backup plans in the works than a simple – ‘we’ll fight together’._

_It reassured him each night when he closed his eyes, that they were doing something for the planet, that they were getting ready, that they had a fighting chance._

_And that was all he needed._

* * *

Tony left Strange to talk to the purple alien, signaling for the Guardians and Peter to keep still as he slipped into the titan’s ship. He was extremely glad for Gamora’s presence, since she kept the rest of them in line before they could ruin the entire plan.

His armor retreated back into the arc reactor on his chest, allowing him to tread silently. The glasses – having reformed on his face – blinked to life, the lens depicting a single blinking dot on the map. The genius grimaced at the incomplete map, unhappy that he was in an unknown area with barely any knowledge of the ship’s layout but it couldn’t be helped.

The alien had exited alone, but that didn’t mean that there was no backup on the ship. He kept an eye on the little box at the bottom right of his lens, an indicator for signs of life that still remained at one.

The map led him to a door that was so seamlessly blended into the wall that had FRIDAY not identified the slight current of air from and into the cell, he would have missed the door completely. As it was, he tried pushing it to see if it unlocked, but it remained firm.

Sighing, Tony looked around once more and knocked on the door, wincing at the loud echo.

“Reindeer games, if you’re in there, stay away from the door.”

The Mark L wrapped around him, and he clenched his right hand into a fist, pointing it towards the door/wall. The laser cut through the metal easily, and he dragged it all around until there was a hole big enough for him. Lifting a leg, he kicked it down, the helm retracting as he stepped inside.

Tony cursed as he saw the state the god was in.

He quickly knelt down beside Loki, giving the chains wrapping him a once-over. The god looked terrible, his face gaunt and deep bruises under his eyes, and Tony wondered if this was still part of the plan.

“Hey, hey can you hear me?” he asked softly, tapping the god on the cheek.

“I can hear you,” Loki grumbled, stirring from where he had been curled up against the wall.

He looked exhausted beyond measure, but alert enough that Tony was hopeful the trickster wasn’t just going to drop dead.

“Remove the chains,” the god said, lifting his arms up, “They’re binding my magic.”

“I still don’t think magic exists,” Tony complained, but set to cutting into the chains away.

Loki laughed, “You work with Strange, the self-proclaimed Sorcerer Supreme, and you still don’t believe in magic?”

“Is that jealousy I hear?” The genius sniped back, grinning.

When the last chains fell away, he extended a hand, hauling the god to his feet. Tony watched as Loki cracked his neck, staring in muted awe at the visible energy that pulsed around him. The bruises faded away with every second, the sickening sound of bones cracking making the genius wince, wondering just how the god could even stand when his body seemed to be in shambles. He waited patiently for Loki to finish healing himself despite the distant sounds of explosion he could hear. 

When the god was done healing, he opened his eyes, blazing with fury so strong Tony had to fight back a shiver.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

Tony had never seen Loki fight.

He’d seen that spar between him and Cap back in Stuttgard, but the god had given up almost as soon as the fight had started. He’d reviewed the footage of Thor’s fight with his brother, but even that ended quickly, with Loki rolling off the side of the tower.

The many tales with which Thor regaled them about his youthful adventures put Loki in a dim light. He was weak, not made for battle, and he kept to the shadows from which he attacked from – dishonorable and underhanded tactics, according to Thor, for a warrior should fight with honor and courage, and should face his enemy up front.

(It was one of the only times him and Cap – and Romanov _and_ Barton – saw eye to eye. Guerilla warfare was a thing on earth, and Tony resolved never to mention that to Thor.)

The battle of New York didn’t see much action from Loki either, he merely sat in the backseat of the chitauri vehicle or strutted around his tower commanding his troops.

Jane had commented that he’d held his own against at least ten dark elves with nothing more than a dagger, and that put things somewhat into perspective – even though it honestly didn’t sound as impressive when Thor could take out an entire platoon with one swing.

(He also didn’t mention that to Loki – he enjoyed the occasional thrill, he wasn’t suicidal.)

So Tony had no idea what to expect at all when they exited the ship to go confront Thanos, but it sure as hell wasn’t _that_.

The sounds of fighting greeted them as they neared the exit, and Tony bristled, cursing internally for taking too long in getting the trickster. They emerged into daylight to chaos.

Strange had taken to the back, his portals flashing and opening all over the place as the Guardians leapt from one portal, struck a blow against the alien, and dropped into a conveniently opened one. The titan growled as he was pummeled rapidly on all sides, and it was a good plan, but Tony could see the way the purple being had begun to predict their attacks.

The faceplate slid over his face and he launched himself forward, barreling into the titan just as he slammed Peter to the ground. The force of the attack sent the titan flying backwards. Tony ignored the soft ‘thank you Mr Stark’ from the kid and continued his assault, slashing upwards with an energy blade on his leg and flipping out of reach when the titan grabbed at him.

An angry scream interrupted them and a green and blue blur latched onto him.

Tony grinned as Gamora and Nebula both sank their swords into him, Gamora into his leg and Nebula digging her blade into his back. He yelled in pain and threw them off, the opening wide enough for Tony to blast him with the unibeam. Peter jumped up from behind and shot his webs at the titan’s neck pulling him backwards long enough for Quill to fire at him.

Tony darted forward, slamming his leg blade down on the alien’s arm, wanting to cut it off but –

The stone glowed and exploded outwards, sending them flying backwards.

The genius crashed painfully against a rock, rolling immediately to a stand. He saw the titan lift his gauntlet, ready to deliver another blow –

A snarl so feral it froze everyone in their places echoed across the surface of the planet.

The titan had no time to find its source when he was blasted clear off his feet.

Tony stared, gobsmacked, as the alien got up to his feet, a hint of fear in his eyes before it was covered with anger.

From behind him, Loki stalked towards the titan, iridescent green shimmering over his body not unlike what he did in Stuttgard. His armor slowly formed over his body, plates of gold adorning his shoulder and chest, the rest of him covered in green and black leather. His cape fluttered behind him, a dark forest green on the outside and a bright yellow on the inside. On his head, his trademark horns slowly grew, curving wickedly atop his head.

Tony couldn’t help but watch with bated breath as the god twisted his hands, two daggers as long as his forearms appearing, the metal shimmering with some sort of rune that seemed to dance along the blade.

“ _Thanos_ ,” Loki hissed, sliding easily into a crouch, his voice so venomous Tony was surprised the alien didn’t just drop dead right there.

The newly named Thanos sneered, straightening to his full height. “You think –”

Baring his teeth, Loki leapt forward.

His daggers met Thanos’ gauntlet in a metallic screech, the titan staggering from the force of his blow. Loki pushed off from the titan and disappeared, reappearing behind him as he slashed at the alien’s unprotected leg. The god ducked from the retaliating fist and sliced upwards, the titan’s skin splitting open where his daggers met it.

Thanos roared in pain, whirling around to grab Loki – his hand closed around empty air, the illusion fading in his grasp. The real Loki dropped onto his back, driving both daggers deep into flesh. Thanos staggered, and Loki wished his daggers were long enough to reach the titan’s heart. He vaulted off the titan, leaving both daggers where they were.

His vision flashed crimson and there was a faint shout of concern behind him, but Loki grinned and let his magic flare, shattering the illusion almost immediately.

The reality stone was a dangerous weapon – it didn’t just provide the illusion of reality, it had the ability to alter reality itself to what the user desired it to be. If Thanos had known how to wield it properly, the battle would already have been lost before it began. But the titan was no mage, nor was he a magic caster – even if he knew the true capabilities of the stone, he did not have the discipline nor the training to alter reality as a whole, let alone what was needed to sustain it.

Loki savored the look of horrified surprise on Thanos’ face when his illusion cracked and crumbled to dust.

The god leapt at Thanos, who raised his arms in defense. Loki shifted into one of his predatory forms, his jaws – powerful enough to take down a bilgesnipe – clamped around Thaons’ throat. He dragged the titan down, digging his claws into the alien’s chest. He leapt off the Mad Titan as he snarled in anger, flipping and shifting back to his normal form, barely even touching the ground before he was onto Thanos once again. He stabbed another dagger into the titan’s gut and a fourth into his right thigh before a hand closed around him and flung him aside.

Loki rolled to a crouching position and grinned, watching as Thanos abandoned all pretense of a magnanimous savior burdened by a necessity he didn’t want to commit – revealing the genocidal, bloodthirsty maniac underneath. He stumbled, with his throat bleeding from the wound Loki had given him.

The trickster spat to one side, the taste of bitter blood on his tongue.

Rising up, he brought both hands together, one above the other with the palm facing each other. Lightning crackled in the space between, and Thanos laughed.

“Your brother tried that already,” he sneered, staggering forward as he raised his gauntlet, “Do you think that will work?”

Loki cackled, “Who do you think _taught_ Thor how to command the elements?”

He flung his hand outwards, the lightning arcing towards the titan. If there was one thing he learnt in his time on Midgard, it was that the mortals had this interesting thing called physics. It fascinated him to learn about what the humans deemed as laws of the universe, and he enjoyed the lessons Stark had given him when they both had free time.

The lightning – helped along by his magic – arced from one dagger to another, constantly frying the titan. The god laughed as Thanos screamed in pain, the runes on the daggers amplifying the sensation of being electrocuted alive.

He extended a hand towards the titan and, gathering his seidr in his palms, fired a spell of his own creation, one meant to boil and burn his enemy – a spell he’d created especially for the being opposite him.

The titan screamed as the green fire consumed him, burning away strips of flesh and eating at the muscle and bone underneath.

Loki stalked forward, reaching into his interspatial pocket, drawing out a sword he hadn’t wielded in a long time.

_Lævateinn_.

Wrapping his _seidr_ around Thanos, he lifted the titan up to his knees – the bits of flesh and bone that was left – staring down coldly at him. With a swing, he chopped the titan’s left arm off, kicking the arm with the gauntlet off to the side, ignoring the startled shouts from the mortals as they scrambled for the stones, focusing his powers on the being who had tormented him for the past few years.

Lifting the Mad Titan in the air, he let his magic tighten its hold on Thanos, slowly squeezing his body, watching with vindictive glee as the alien struggled and choked on air that would not come.

“I am _Loki_ ,” he announced, “God of Mischief and Lies, Trickery and Deceit. Your mistake was thinking _you_ could control _me_.”

With that, his sword sang in the air, cutting through sinew and bone like a knife through butter.

Thanos’ head dropped to the ground with a sickening squelch.

Loki sneered and released his grip on the titan’s dismembered body, letting the tattered remains of muscle and bone held tenuously together crumble on the dusty rocks of Titan.

* * *

Thanos was dead.

Loki closed his eyes and tilted his head back, feeling the thing in his chest that had seized his heart in vicious claws loosen just a fraction.

His nemesis – the creature that had tormented his waking and sleeping moments – was finally dead, crushed into the dust with which he was formed. The god let his shoulders drop, feeling the tension and anxiety bleed out of him.

For the first time in almost a decade, he could finally breathe.

Tony remained frozen where he was for the entirety of the battle, his eyes transfixed on the – very clearly – one-sided fight.

Perhaps Thanos had been worn down by them, or by other challengers before he arrived, or perhaps he’d been taken off guard by Loki; whatever the reason, the Mad Titan, even with four infinity stones, had been no match for the god of mischief.

And as the Tony witnessed how Loki stripped the flesh from Thanos so easily, he found himself glad that the god clearly hadn’t been serious about the New York invasion back then.

(He also wanted to brain Thor over the head because seriously, how did the guy live with his brother for over a millennia and not know what he was capable of? Tony wanted to know if Thor was just that much more powerful than Loki, or if he was just overconfident – he was betting on the latter – because this was in no way considered weak. Weak didn’t explain how Loki could have resisted the power of a stone when it was directed at him, or how he could go toe to toe with Thanos when it took the rest of them to even get him to stagger. Weak didn’t explain how Loki had made Thanos scream in a way that Tony never ever wanted to hear ever again.)

None of them had moved – not even to make a grab for the gauntlet despite all of them having shouted at one point when it flew off the alien’s body – frozen by some sort of ingrained instinct at the display of power the god had just shown.

Loki himself didn’t do anything, just stood there with his head tilted back and his eyes closed, the tip of his sword – dripping with viscous liquid – resting on the ground. He didn’t move, seemingly content to remain where he was, unaware of the audience he’d stunned into silence.

And stunned they were.

Tony had never seen Thor fight like this, graceful and brutal paradoxically intertwining together. The thunder god was very much brute strength and frontal attacks, but this? Loki had danced around Thanos, had weaved in and out of his space like liquid, never staying long enough to get hit but always landing a strike of his own. Tony had never seen this kind of savagery before, and if he doubted the god’s ability before, he was never doing so again.

(He also was _extremely_ glad that he was on Loki’s good side, because he didn’t know how he would even begin to fight against something like _that_.)

“Stark.”

The call of his name roused him from his internal musings, prompting Tony to focus on Loki, who had opened his eyes and was now looking at him, a thoughtful frown on his face.

“Sup Reindeer Games?”

“The army that Thanos had – did they breach Midgard?”

Tony blinked and turned his attention inward, FRIDAY already starting her report. She couldn’t provide him the data on his HUD, but with the trans-realm, interdimensional phone they had created together, she could at least verbally relay to him updates from Earth. It was something he needed to update as soon as possible – because zero data was just a big no – but for now he listened to what his AI said.

He snorted when she finished, shaking his head and letting the helm retract into his suit.

“Well, apparently they tried to get to Vision and his mind stone.”

“They breached the defense?” Loki asked, his brow furrowing.

Tony shook his head, “Nah, they only managed to get in the first time because Thanos opened a portal for them. Cap and friends drove them off, but they couldn’t get back in because – wait for it – our defense system stopped them.”

“It worked then?”

Tony grinned proudly, “Worked like a charm, the ships were all either shot down or fried and while I think there’s still some ships left, I doubt they’re about to launch any attack any time soon, not after what you did to their boss.” He nodded at the smoking pile of something by Loki’s feet.

The genius tilted his head as FRIDAY added something, chuckling.

Seeing Loki’s confused look, he elaborated, “Cap and friends apparently went back to Wakanda to try and ‘rally the troops’. They’re still standing around waiting for something to happen.”

Peter made a questioning noise. “Wait, I thought the planetary defense system was public knowledge?”

Tony shrugged, “It is, but I guess some people never read.”

“You created a defense system that resisted Thanos’ army?” Nebula asked, her face twisted in disbelief.

“Mr Stark is the best on earth!” Peter piped up, defending his mentor from the alien. “He worked super hard and made sure that it wouldn’t fry our planet or affect our planet’s gravitational field and he helped build it out there in freaking space –”

“Kid slow down and breathe once in awhile will you?” Tony interrupted, rolling his eyes when the kid flushed with embarrassment.

“Besides, it isn’t like I did it alone, and the idea for making an interlocking web of sensors came from you, so credit where credit’s due kid.”

Peter reddened even more when the Guardians all turned to look at him.

“Well Rocket is gonna have a field day picking your brain for _that_.” Quill commented, scratching the back of his head with his blaster.

“Speaking of, where are Rocket and Groot?” Gamora asked, sheathing her sword after giving her once-father a derisive glance.

“They should be with Thor…” Quill started, looking to Loki warily as the god tensed.

Tony cocked his head to one side, listening to FRIDAY chiming in her two cents.

“They’re on earth apparently, in Wakanda.” He reported dutifully.

Loki frowned, “How would he know to go there? And how did he travel there in the first place?”

Tony shrugged, unable to find an answer for that.

“So what do we do now?” the genius asked.

Loki surveyed the planet’s sparse surface, a hint of a smile curling on his lips.

“Now? Now you return to Midgard and prove to your dear Captain that the enemy has been thoroughly defeated.” Loki grinned nastily.

“I can’t open a portal to earth from here.” Strange commented, making his presence known.

Tony jumped, having all but forgotten that the sorcerer was there. His eyebrows made another attempt at disappearing into his hairline when he saw the ex-neurosurgeon narrow his eyes at Loki, who sneered back at him, the tension between them palpable.

“Of course you wouldn’t be able to you second-rate sorcerer.” Loki sniped, smirking when Strange glared at him, bristling at the insult.

“I am the Sorcerer Supreme –”

“A title that is self-claimed on Midgard.” Loki interrupted coldly. “If you wish to claim that title in it’s essence, I suggest you test your mettle against the numerous mages scattered through the galaxy first. And, in the unlikely event that you are able to defeat them all within your lifetime, you can defeat _me_ in combat and claim the title as your own.”

Tony shifted uncomfortably at the way Strange paled drastically, stepping forward to shift Loki’s intense focus away.

“Can you teleport us then?”

Loki scoffed, “If I drag you through the branches of Yggdrasil you are likely to fall into the void and be ripped apart by the shadows, condemned to wandering as a shade for the rest of eternity. No, we will be taking the Tesseract.”

The god stalked over to the abandoned gauntlet, reaching out to pry the space stone from the metal, completely missing the startled looks Quill, Gamora and Drax gave him – each of them remembering their experience with the power stone and the excruciating pain that came with it.

“Stark,” Loki called, beckoning the genius over. “Your current armor, can it form a storage unit?”

“To hold the stones, no,” Tony replied, shaking his head, “That’s too much energy and radiation at once.”

“How about one?”

Tony narrowed his eyes in thought, then nodded slowly. “That should be plausible yeah, but not for long. I’ll need a proper container, the suit’s not really built to contain objects that can destroy entire planets.”

Loki hummed, then turned the stone in his hand around.

“Wait for me here, I will come back with proper containment for the remaining stones, _then_ we will return to Midgard with proof of our victory.”

Tony wondered at the god’s insistence on gloating that they’d won, and wondered if it was to do with the fact that they’d done it without Cap’s help or the fact that they actually won. He suspected that it was the former. Tony had a terrifying moment when the trickster had dropped in on him while he’d been in the hospital, recovering from an operation to replace his sternum – because a vibranium shield to the chest was in no way healthy for a baseline human – and taken one look at him, and went straight into Mother Hen mode. It was terrifying because he knew Loki was willing to smite Rogers and his crew with the vengeance of his ancestors.

(And while that warmed something in him, Tony couldn’t in good conscience let the god go on a murder spree, even if he wanted to strangle Rogers with his bare hands.)

“That’s nice, I guess we’re taking the arm?” Quill asked.

“No we’re not taking the arm," Tony groaned, dragging a palm down his face when he saw the bloodthirsty grin on Loki's face, "We’re taking the head.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a review on your way out! :)
> 
> Come find me on tumblr at @shadowsofmoonracer or my writing blog @midnight-hallucinations :)


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